I've made several crosses using Elisabeth and the inspiration for this cross came when I grew Sugar Magnolia a purple podded sugar snap variety, bred in the US by Dr Alan Kapuler, alongside Elisabeth. The purple pods were such a pretty contrast, I thought it would be fun to see if the two traits could be recombined in one variety. I've given the working name Sugar Beth to the resulting F1 plants/F2 seed.

Sugar Beth F1

As you can see they have purple magenta flowers,

Sugar Beth F1

purple splodges in the leaf axils

Sugar Beth F1

and partly purple pods, all in all very pretty.

Sugar Beth F1

The couple of pods I tasted raw were very tasty and very much a mangetout type, no hint of fibre in the pods.When first harvested the seeds looked to be green seeded although now they have dried further there are subtle variations.

F2 Seed

The dried pods are quite soft and fragile to the feel and none of them appeared thick and fibrous.

Non fibrous pods

I'm looking forward to seeing how they segregate this season, it would be great to get some different colour combinations.For pictures of Sugar Beth F2 progress have a look here Growing Food Saving Seeds

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About Me

After getting the bug for growing my own fruit and vegetables several years ago. I've found in has developed into a love for growing slightly different looking varieties, ones you are unlikely to buy from many seed catalogues. I've become a keen seed saver and love growing different heritage or open pollinated varieties. Although I've no academic experience I've started to breed some of my own vegetables, it comes more from the heart than actual knowledge!